Games That Got Away: Jeff's Look Back at 2009

Every year there always seems to be a handful of good games that get shuffled to the back of the pile in lieu of others, but not because they aren't fun. After all, there are only so many hours and dollars that any single person can spend in a given year. With that in mind, I've cobbled together a short list of a few enjoyable games from 2009 that I played and then begrudgingly set aside in favor of higher-profile releases, along with some reasons why I'm going to give them another crack over the holidays.

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Between Hollywood and videogames, blowing stuff up for the sake of entertainment has been elevated to somewhat of an art form. Volition's open-world 3rd-person shooter Red Faction: Guerrilla is near the top of its class when it comes to freeform physics-based destruction, even besting the scale of demolition found in games like Dice's Battlefield: Bad Company.

Set on Mars during a conflict between the Earth Defense Force and the rebellious Red Faction, the solid premise is undermined a bit by a fairly weak narrative and sparse cinematics. However, with the ability to destroy any structure in the game (and missions that often require you to do just that), there's still a lot of fun to be had. Knocking down a towering structure using explosives, heavy weapons, or the ever-useful gravity hammer never gets old, despite the mild tedium that can set in when driving to mission start points across the vast playing area.

Deadly Creatures

Good third-party titles for the Nintendo Wii are hard to find, a fact which makes developer Rainbow's Deadly Creatures an immediate stand-out of sorts. The story begins when a gas station mysteriously explodes in the desert. Players take on the roles of two unlikely protagonists--a tarantula and a scorpion--and play through the events leading up to the tragedy.

Deadly Creatures does a great job creating a creepy crawly atmosphere, and the two arachnids both have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to exploration and combat. Playing from the perspective of a couple of nasty bugs is creepy and fun, despite some occasional motion-control-induced wonkiness.

Brutal Legend

I suppose I should start off by mentioning that I'm a bit of a Tim Schafer fanboy. From his early collaborative efforts with fellow adventure gaming great, Ron Gilbert, to the more recent Psychonauts, Schafer is a master storyteller in the videogame medium, and one of the few videogame writers that really knows how to make a game funny.

Fans of classic Heavy Metal will also find plenty to like. The soundtrack (while missing some notable heavies like Dio and Metallica) is quite impressive, and the world of metal is great fun to explore for landmarks, collectibles, and other bits of fan-service.

Double Fine's Brutal Legend is one of those gaming experiences that's greater than the sum of its parts. The open-world, heavy metal romp is chock full of Schafer's trademark humor, combining segments to good effect. The amalgamation of combat, driving, and real-time strategy blends together well, effectively overshadowing the shortcomings that are evident when a particular mechanic is scrutinized on its own. For example, the on-foot combat is pretty basic and fun, but would get old quickly were it not broken up by the driving and RTS.